Invest Bangladesh needs to measure what matters — investment realised

The recent unification of BIDA, BEZA and PPPA provides a strong institutional opportunity to unlock real investment potential in Bangladesh. The new framework is intended to bring investment promotion, industrial zones and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) functions together and create a more integrated one-stop system. 

Now that the institutional reorganisation is complete, the role of Invest Bangladesh must go beyond that of a trade promotion organisation to meet the real demand of investors.

Bangladesh's FDI recovered strongly in 2025 to $1.77 billion, up 39.36%, but much of the increase came from reinvested earnings and intra-company loans rather than new equity investment. So the next challenge is not simply attracting interest; it is converting that interest into new factories, capital, technology, exports and jobs.

With BIDA's role now changed to Invest Bangladesh, success should no longer be measured by roadshows, MoUs, meetings and investment inquiries. Instead, Invest Bangladesh should build a clear pipeline to guide quality investors towards production expansion. 

The new KPI should be how much actual investment was realised — not how many investors were contacted. It should identify at least a hundred multinational companies and large regional investors that Bangladesh particularly wants to attract.

The Invest Bangladesh Act, 2026 (Act No. 104 of 2026) was enacted to replace the previous fragmented legal framework — under the erstwhile BIDA, BEZA and PPP Authority — with a single, integrated institutional arrangement for investment promotion and facilitation. 

The overarching objective of the apex institution is to create a more investment-friendly environment, provide services to investors within the shortest possible time, facilitate infrastructure development through public–private partnerships (PPPs), and attract both domestic and foreign investment to accelerate socio-economic development. 

Its mandate extends beyond investment registration and promotion to creating an enabling environment in which investors can establish and operate businesses efficiently.

The authority is responsible for identifying the potential for domestic and foreign investment, promoting investment within Bangladesh and abroad, and coordinating with domestic, foreign and international investment-promotion agencies. It can approve proposals for financial and non-financial opportunities, facilities and incentives for domestic and foreign capital investment. 

It is also empowered to formulate policies, guidelines, directives and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to improve the investment climate, and to coordinate with ministries, divisions and departments to identify and remove barriers to investment.

The Act gives Invest Bangladesh a broader development-oriented role. It includes facilitating domestic–foreign investment partnerships, strengthening backward-linkage industries, supporting technology transfer and local production, facilitating foreign experts and employees, maintaining industry-related databases, and advising the government on international and bilateral investment agreements.

The Authority has extensive operational responsibilities covering investment facilitation, industrial zones and PPPs. In industrial zones, it may identify and allocate land, approve industrial projects, appoint developers and operators, develop and monitor infrastructure, and address administrative or legal obstacles affecting project implementation. It is also responsible for ensuring environmental, social and economic commitments in industrial zones.

A particularly important responsibility is the provision of a wide range of investor services through a single system. These include clearances, certificates, certificates of origin, capital and dividend repatriation permits, visas, work permits, import and export permits, construction permits and other legal documents.

For PPPs, the Authority is responsible for formulating policies and SOPs, determining or recommending project-specific incentives and facilities, assisting with project preparation and private-partner selection, approving bidders where applicable, preparing model contracts, monitoring projects and resolving implementation obstacles.

The Act establishes the Invest Bangladesh Authority as a statutory body corporate with perpetual succession and the capacity to acquire, hold and transfer property and to sue or be sued. The authority consists of a chairman and seven full-time members, with the chairman serving as its chief executive. The government appoints the chairman and members, while the Act requires priority to be given to individuals with relevant qualifications and experience.

At the strategic level, the Act establishes a governing board chaired by the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister's nominee. Its membership includes key ministers (MoF, MoC, MoI, MoPEMR, MoFA, MoL, MoJPA, etc.), the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, and four private-sector representatives, including two women members.

The Board is responsible for approving strategic investment policies and roadmaps, reviewing industrial-zone and PPP activities, approving industrial-zone proposals and providing strategic direction for investment development.

The Act also permits the Authority to establish committees and recruit officers and employees according to a government-approved organisational structure, thereby creating a dedicated institutional capacity for implementation.

The government may, through notification in the official gazette, exempt developers, industrial-zone operators, or industrial enterprises/projects from specified provisions of listed laws, or modify their application as stated in the notification. The laws covered include those relating to municipal taxation, explosives, stamp duties, foreign exchange, building construction, fire safety, local government, VAT and supplementary duty, and electricity.

The Act incorporates explicit safeguards against corruption, fraud, collusion and coercion, particularly in PPP procurement and implementation. Any person involved in private-partner selection or PPP project implementation who engages directly or indirectly in corrupt, fraudulent, collusive or coercive practices may face criminal proceedings for corruption as well as departmental proceedings under applicable service rules. Institutions involved in such practices may be declared temporarily or permanently ineligible, and their pre-qualification, bids or contracts may be cancelled.

The Act also contains a specific conflict-of-interest provision. A person involved in bid evaluation who has a direct or indirect conflict of interest must immediately withdraw from the process. Failure to do so intentionally is treated as a collusive practice. The definition extends to relevant financial or business interests involving the evaluator or the evaluator's spouse, son or daughter, where such interests could influence — or appear likely to influence — the evaluation decision.

These provisions strengthen procurement integrity, accountability and investor confidence by reducing opportunities for undue influence in PPP selection and implementation.

One of the Act's most significant institutional reforms is the creation of a Single Digital Platform for investment and business-related government services. Section 50 requires the establishment of a single platform to ensure the seamless, transparent and effective delivery of investment and business services, approvals, licences, clearances and permits. Relevant service-providing agencies are required to establish desks at Invest Bangladesh offices where necessary and to attach authorised personnel to facilitate service delivery.

Importantly, all concerned service-providing agencies must remain connected to the platform. Existing One-Stop Service portals and other separate service-delivery platforms are required to be integrated or migrated into the Single Digital Platform in phases, within prescribed cut-off timelines. Once the applicable timeline expires, agencies will no longer be permitted to operate their own separate portals for these services.

Overall, the Act represents a shift from fragmented investment facilitation toward a centralised, coordinated, digitally enabled and accountability-oriented investment service system. Its success, however, will depend substantially on effective inter-agency integration, clearly defined service timelines, delegation of authority to participating agencies, implementation rules and the operational capacity of Invest Bangladesh.

In the past, a large investor often had to shuttle between at least fifteen ministries. Going forward, Invest Bangladesh should become the single government interface and coordinate the other agencies behind the scenes. The existing OSS already provides time-bound services and electronic processing. The opportunity now is to make the system genuinely end-to-end — covering land permissions, registration, construction, environmental clearances and utility connections — from a single place. 

The goal should be for investors to import capital machinery, clear customs and tax formalities, secure work permits for skilled foreign labour, arrange financing, and move into production smoothly and within the shortest possible time. The investor should see one dashboard, one case officer and one deadline.

All government approvals should be granted within 90 days, provided the investor submits a complete application. This should be backed by statutory service deadlines; deemed approval where legally feasible; automatic escalation of delays; dashboard monitoring; and monthly publication of agency performance. This is where Invest Bangladesh could demonstrate that Bangladesh has changed from a permission-heavy system to a facilitation-oriented system.

The message should be to demonstrate that Bangladesh will compete on ease, speed and predictability — not simply on cheap labour. The strategic agenda set out in "Making Bangladesh Investable: A Strategic Agenda for Invest Bangladesh" now needs to move into implementation. 

Invest Bangladesh should not simply tell the world why Bangladesh is attractive. It should make Bangladesh demonstrably easier, faster and more predictable to invest in — and measure its success by the investment actually realised. That would also align well with the current government's move to consolidate investment-related institutions and create a more integrated investment framework.

Ferdaus Ara Begum is the CEO of BUILD, a public-private dialogue platform that works for private sector development.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.